More than 100 victims are expected to file lawsuits against Sean “Diddy” Combs alleging sexual abuse and exploitation, lawyers announced Tuesday.
The Los Angeles Times reported on Tuesday that a spate of complaints were announced in Houston, Texas.
These are the latest in a series of charges against the Bad Boy Records founder, 54, who was arrested in New York two weeks ago on human trafficking charges.
Attorney Tony Buzbee said at a news conference that most of the new lawsuits are expected to be filed in New York and Los Angeles.
“This is an important issue and we intend to pursue it aggressively,” Buzbee said.
“We will do everything in our power to find all potentially responsible parties, including individuals and entities who participated in or profited from this heinous act.”
A federal indictment unsealed last month alleges Combs, 54, manipulated and drugged women into participating in “freak offs,” in which the women were sometimes recorded against their will. The troubling charges that he has committed are detailed in detail.
The indictment alleges that Combs' staff participated in organizing the violent sexcapades and helped keep them secret.
Combs has pleaded not guilty and is currently being held in federal custody without bail at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
Prior to Combs' high-profile arrest at a Manhattan hotel, 12 people, including his ex-girlfriend Kathy Ventura, accused the hip-hop mogul of sexual assault in civil court.
Surveillance footage from 2016 unearthed in May showed Combs violently attacking Kathy in the hotel hallway.
“The heartbreaking video further confirms Mr. Combs' disturbing and predatory behavior,” Ventura's attorney Douglas H. Wigdor said at the time.
“Words cannot express the courage and fortitude that Ms. Ventura showed by coming forward and bringing this issue to light,” Wigdor added.
Lawyer Ariel Mitchell Kidd claimed that shocking pornographic videos of Combs and “higher profile” celebrities were being “purchased” in Hollywood.
“I can tell you that the video was pornographic. It was from a home in Atlanta and the person didn't seem to be watching the video. It seems to me that the person didn't realize they were being videotaped. It doesn't seem like it's happening,” Mitchell Kidd told NewsNation.
Mitchell-Kidd also said she plans to file another lawsuit against Combs on behalf of a client who claims Combs raped her in 2018.
“Combs sexually assaulted her using an inanimate object…and directed another gentleman to sexually assault her while he watched and enjoyed himself,” the attorney alleged.
It was not immediately clear whether Mitchell Kidd's client's claims were included in those announced Tuesday.
